Ultimate Racing - Those Were The Days

It was a different time and a different place. No back-up car, no expensive hauler, no driver to get the race car to the track, no crew, no major sponsors, no racing tires, no fan clubs, and of course, no money. The stock car racing period of the late 1940s and early 1950s was a totally different animal than it is today, but it was just that Stock... Car... Racing.

Racers of the day hung on by their fingernails, and one of them, Erick Erickson, was the epitome of that stereotype, having an outstanding career against overwhelming odds. One has to wonder how skilled drivers like him would have faired with better equipment in today's day and age.

Erick's son, Fred, remembers those days during his youth and is still amazed at how his late father did what he did. "I grew up at the racetrack," he recalled. "My dad drove a totally-stock race car with license plates and functioning headlights. Heck, he would tape over the lights and the rear side windows and go racing." And get this! "The race car was driven to the track, and afterwards was driven back home with the family. Then, during the week, it performed household duties like going to the grocery store."

Can you imagine the attention it must have received sitting in the parking lot adorned with the scratches and bumps from the previous race? Erick's racing career started in the late 1930s driving coupes which many times could be purchased from the paltry sum of $20. Hard to imagine but 20 bucks could buy you a car; after that, it came down to setup ability and driving skills to be competitive. Erickson was a master of both. During the post-war period, he decided that a 103-horse 1941 Pontiac straight-eight vehicle would provide the best potential to succeed at a higher level. "Driver safety wasn't a high priority during this periodùno rollcages and only aircraft lap belts," son Fred explained.

Also, only Second and Third gear were used during the period. It was necessary for drivers to select a single gear for different sized tracks. "Dad used Second gear for quarter-milers, and high gear for the bigger tracks. The stock 4.10 rearend was used by my dad and most drivers."

The Pontiac proved to be a good choice as he won the 1949 and 1950 West Coast Stock Car Championships. But that wasn't enough and he decided to give NASCAR Grand National racing a shot. By then, the old '41 was showing its age, so Erickson made a step up to a '48 Pontiac and ran in the first two NASCAR races west of the Mississippi River. His surprising results were a Fifth at Carrell (CA) Speedway and an amazing Second to superstar Marshall Teague who was driving a factory-supported Hudson Hornet in a race at Phoenix, Arizona. That performance caught the eye of Bill France Sr. (NASCAR President) who invited him to come east and test the competition there.

Erickson did what any racer would do and loaded up the race car with parts and tools. However, he drove it across country to the East Coast. He competed at Darlington, Trenton (NJ), Canfield (OH), and West Memphis (TN). His trek to Darlington proved to be a bit of an eye opener as his son explains, "Because of the rpms he had to turn at Darlington, he burned holes in the number 1 and 8 pistons. The motor ran too lean," Fred said. That 1951 season saw Erickson run 12 NASCAR races finishing with three Top 5s and six Top 10s, delivering an 18th place finish in the national points standings. Incrediblely, he raced just 13 times out of 41 races. Finances kept him down to just 13 more races from 1954-1956 where he had one Top 5, four Top 10s, and seven Top 15s.

Erickson didn't just race Pontiacs during those years. Erick Erickson was definitely his own man wheeling other brands of cars that few others raced, including Buicks, Oldsmobiles, a Mercury, and even a Kaiser. He set up his cars and raced them where he wanted. During the formative years of stock car racing, his story is one that is played out over and over again at tracks all across the country. Erickson's career culimnated in his induction into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2003, an honor certainly well-deserved.